Tracheobronchial calcification in members of a fixed population sample.

In a review of the chest radiographs of 1152 consecutively examined subjects, 10 cases (0.87%) of extensive tracheobronchial calcification were identified. In addition, 51 subjects having this coded diagnosis were identified among 11,758 members of a fixed population sample. Sixty of these 61 subjects were women. Tracheobronchial calcification usually appeared after the age of 60. The subjects' clinical and other radiologic diagnoses were reviewed and tracheobronchial calcification appeared to have no clinical significance. Histologic findings in autopsied cases showed the calcifications and ossifications to be in the cartilaginous rings themselves. However, the reason for the overwhelming prevalence of this entity in women remains to be resolved.